Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 214, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 September 1920 — BIRDS HAVE VARIOUS NAMES [ARTICLE]

BIRDS HAVE VARIOUS NAMES

Get Cognomens From Habits or Plumage fhough Not Infrequently . From Song or Call. Birds are given various names in various parts of the country; some get these names from their habits, others from their plumage, while the song, or call, In other cases is responsible for the nickname -of the bird, according to London Answers. The cuckoo has two mates. The meadow pippit is known as the cuckoo’s mate in some parts of the country, because of its habit of always accompanying the cuckoo from place to place throughout its stay In this country. The wryneck gets the same name for a different reason. It arrives in the country about the same time, or a few days earlier than the cuckoo, and therefore the name has been given It. Little “Bread-and-no-cheese” is per- . haps rather a mouthful, but the name! Is given to the yellow bunting on ae- j count of the fact that its simple song resembles these words more than anything else in the worid. “Yaffle” Is the name given to that laughing bird of the woods, the green woodpecker, also known by the less cheerful cognomen of rain bird, be-, cause whenever it laughs the glass goes back and the rain comes down. In other words, the laugh of the green' woodpecker, like the “hee-haw” of the 1 donkey, is considered by many to be a sure sign of wet weather. The whitethroat has a habit of creeping along the lower parts of the hedges, where the nettles grow,: and therefore it has acquired for itself the name of “nettle creeper.”